A user wishing to view or interact with the system software in conventional gaming consoles must first remove all media from the media drive and power-up the console. This action brings the user to the system menu where certain settings such as time, video and audio output mode may be configured. The user may also listen to music or rip a soundtrack from a CD, manage a memory unit or content stored on the hard drive, and perform do a variety of things relating to networked features. A drawback of conventional systems is that any system application that user may need to access while interacting with a gaming application running on the console must be duplicated in the gaming application. This creates a great deal of additional work for developers and creates an inconsistent user experience as system application functionality may be implemented differently for each gaming application.
In addition to the above, even if the system applications are provided within the gaming applications, there is no way for users to quickly and easily access the system applications while interacting with gaming application. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for providing a system menu that runs concurrently with other gaming applications and will be quickly accessible via, e.g., the press of a button. By pressing the button a user will access the system menu which will provide the user access to all system and service functionalities. The present invention provides such a solution.